A Pennsylvania school district approved a policy this week that will minimize how transgender student-athletes may participate in interscholastic athletics.
Board members of the Hempfield School District in Lancaster County approved the measure by a vote of 6–3 on Tuesday. The policy goes into effect immediately and will require all athletes to play team sports aligned with their sex at birth.
“Separate athletic teams on the basis of sex preserve fairness, provide increased opportunity for girls, and are safer,” the policy (pdf) reads. “As such, the district provides separate interscholastic athletic teams on the basis of sex.”
However, the measure notes two exceptions, as “reasonable accommodations” will be given to girls who wish to participate in the boy’s sports team, but only if there’s “no female team for that sport during the school year.”…